Ad Campaigns
IKEA India’s festive spot celebrates the joy of unscripted moments
Mumbai: As the festive season approaches, it’s that magical time when people across India give their homes a refresh with makeovers, big and small. Closer to the day, everything else is also planned to the T—whether it’s deep cleaning, decorating, meal prep, inviting guests, or picking out the right outfits—the checklist is endless. But the heart of the celebration lies in those little moments that add an extra touch of magic.
IKEA India’s new film, ‘Make Room for All Things Festive’ conceptualised by Leo Burnett, captures banter between a young couple as they try and plan their festive party before their guests arrive—chit chatting in the living room, an early dinner followed by ghazals and capturing the perfect group selfie on the couch, leaving viewers with unexpected twists classic of any festive gathering.
Complementing the main film, the campaign includes a series of 10-seconders highlighting how IKEA products transform to get your home festive-ready. From a cocktail glass doubling as a chic mithai serving bowl to an armchair that turns from a relaxation spot into a perfect selfie zone, a mood-setting lamp that becomes the perfect mic for karaoke nights, and a bed that’s both cosy for sleep and spacious enough for lively mehendi parties—IKEA makes every corner of the home festive-ready.
IKEA India country marketing manager Anna Ohlin said, “Festivals in India are vibrant celebrations of togetherness, where quality time with loved ones is at the heart of the experience. At IKEA, we are passionate about making Life At Home better for the many people, and we know that the biggest festive moments bring families and friends together. Our ‘Make Room for All Things Festive’ campaign showcases how our adaptable, affordable, solutions enrich festive experiences, making room for loved ones, traditions, unexpected moments, and cherished memories. With IKEA you can always feel ready for whatever unplanned moment the festive celebrations might bring.”
Leo Burnett India executive director Rajeev Rakshit said, “The campaign captures how Indian festivities truly unfold—plans are made, but the real magic happens when the unexpected takes over. IKEA is there through it all, not by changing the way people celebrate, but by being a natural part of every spontaneous moment. It’s a celebration of how homes come to life during the festive season.”
NATIONAL: Amazon Ads has laid out a sharply tech-led vision for the advertising industry in 2026, arguing that artificial intelligence, streaming TV and creator partnerships will combine to turn brand building into a more precise, performance-driven business.
At the heart of the shift, the company says, is the fusion of AI with Amazon’s vast trove of shopping, browsing and streaming signals, allowing advertisers to move beyond blunt reach metrics to campaigns designed around real customer behaviour.
“The future of advertising is not about reaching more people, but the right people with messages that resonate,” said Amazon Ads India head and vice president Girish Prabhu. “By combining AI with deep customer insights, we help brands move from broadcasting campaigns to having meaningful conversations wherever audiences spend their time.”
One of the biggest changes, according to Amazon Ads, will be the collapse of the wall between media planning and creative development. Retail media, powered by first-party data, is increasingly shaping everything from brand discovery to final purchase, pushing marketers to design campaigns around audience insight rather than internal instinct.
AI is also moving from a support tool to a creative engine. Agentic AI, which automates and accelerates production, is expected to make high-quality creative accessible even to small businesses, compressing weeks of work into hours and giving challengers the ability to compete with larger brands on speed and scale.
Behind the scenes, AI-driven analytics will take on a bigger role in campaign optimisation, identifying patterns, spotting opportunities and recommending actions that would previously have required teams of analysts.
Streaming TV is another big battleground. With India’s video streaming audience now above 600 million and connected TV users at 129.2 million in 2025, advertisers are set to treat streaming not just as a branding channel but as a performance engine, measured increasingly by sales, sign-ups and bookings rather than just reach.
Finally, Amazon Ads sees creators and contextual advertising reshaping how brands tell stories. Creators will act less like influencers and more like long-term partners, while scene-aware ads on streaming platforms will allow brands to insert hyper-relevant offers into the flow of what viewers are watching.
Taken together, Amazon Ads argues, these shifts mark a move towards advertising that is both more human and more measurable, where AI handles the complexity, and creativity does the persuading.
